Year-end 2023-24 – Payment Cards

As we near the end of the 2023-24 financial year, please check your IPSA work is up-to-date and that budget positions are as you’d expect.

Carrying out some checks before 31 March will help to reduce the risk of overspending.

Rules on Payment Cards

Several conditions need to be met to be entitled to a Payment Card.

The card is a Government Procurement Card and as such there are strict rules concerning its use.

For more information, visit Our Payment Card Policy.

The card must only be used to pay for costs which are allowable under the Scheme and not for personal expenditure.

  • Any personal expenditure or expenditure outside of the Scheme must be marked as "Not claimed, to be repaid" and the money repaid immediately.

  • Persistent use of "not claimed, to be repaid" could result in your card being cancelled.

The amount you spend on your Payment Card must be fully accounted for promptly, by submitting evidence and making repayments to IPSA by the deadline. This is usually on the eighth of every month.

  • If any lines due for reconciliation are not fully approved by the deadline, your card will be suspended for at least seven days and until all overdue lines have been resolved.

  • If after seven days the MP or proxy has not fully accounted for their Payment Card spend, we will seek repayment of the cost of any unaccounted spend by raising a credit note on IPSA Online.

Card lines are uploaded to the system monthly, in the first week of each month. You then have just over one month to action these and get them approved.

  • Reconciling Payment Card lines earlier will help to avoid issues if lines are returned to you that may need an adjustment. You must let us know of any extenuating circumstances as soon as possible, that may affect you meeting this deadline.

Any "Not claimed, to be repaid" Payment Card lines should be repaid to IPSA within 30 days.

  • If the money owed is not received within 30 days, the amount owed will be deducted from the MP’s salary.

Change to reconciliation deadline at year-end

As part of the year-end process, you need to meet several deadlines.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you have any concerns about your ability to meet the deadlines, so we can support your office during this process.

The deadline for reconciling and approving March transactions on IPSA Online is Friday 26 April 2024.

If the deadline is missed, then any costs will not be reimbursed by IPSA, and we will have to request repayment.

Any transactions that are still unreconciled by the end of May 2024 will be shown as "Costs not reconciled" and your account manager will be in touch to request repayment.

Payment Card lines and the Year-end Form

If you reconcile your Payment Card by the deadline, then it will appear in the budget for the 2023-24 financial year.

This will be moved manually by our Finance Team, and so will not appear automatically.

However, if you miss the deadline your Payment Card transactions will remain in your 2024/2025 budget. 

Therefore, these lines do not need to be included on your Year-end Form, unless you paid for something on the Payment Card on or before 31 March which relates to a good or service received in 2024-25.

To download a copy of the form, visit the Year-end Form.

Proxy Payment Card

Following the successful pilot of Payment Cards for Proxies, we are pleased to invite all proxies who help their MP with their business costs claims, to apply for their Payment Card.

There are specific rules in place to ensure we have good oversight of the use of Payment Cards and to support MPs, as they remain liable for all costs incurred on the card

Each proxy and their MP must sign the Cardholder Information and Indemnity Form.

Digital or electronic signatures are not accepted.

Each proxy must attend our Payment Card Policy webinar before applying for their Payment Card.

Register your attendance on our Eventbrite page.

The two-factor authentication process

The two-factor authentication process is a security procedure that Barclaycard has in place to verify a cardholder’s identity when making any online transactions worth £30 or more.

All new cardholders should receive a PINsentry card reader alongside their card.

Please notify your named account manager if you do not have a PINsentry card reader.

For more information, visit the PINsentry card reader guide.

Please ensure the mobile number linked to your payment card is up to date. One-time verification codes can be sent to UK mobile numbers.

If you wish to update your mobile number, we will need to receive a written request from the cardholder.

Reconciling refunds

Any refunds to the Payment Card should be reconciled against the same expense type as the original payment that is being refunded.

This will ensure your budget and spend data is accurate and refunds are correctly allocated.

Please do not mark such lines as "Not claimed, to be repaid" unless the original payment was for a cost not claimable under Scheme rules.